Apple Rolls Out New 500 MHz & 600 MHz iBooks

By Bryan Chaffin

Oct 15th, 2001 5:00 PM EDT

Apple has refreshed the iBook line today, rolling out new models that include bigger hard drives, and a faster bus speed and faster processors on the medium and high end models. The new lineup includes the same 500 MHz G3/66 MHz system bus model with a CD-ROM drive at the low end, with the DVD mid-range model and DVD/CD-RW high-end model coming with a 600 MHz processor and a 100 MHz system bus. The CD-ROM and DVD-ROM models come with a 15 GB drive, while the combo-drive model comes with a 20 GB drive. All three models feature 128 MB of RAM. Pricing remains the same for the low-end and mid-range models, while the high-end model has been dropped by US$100. From Apple:

Apple® today enhanced its popular iBook® line of consumer and education notebooks with faster PowerPC G3 processors up to 600 MHz, a new system bus running up to 100 MHz, larger hard drives up to 20GB and now 128MB of RAM standard across the line. The new iBooks are priced starting at $1,299, and the popular top-of-the-line model featuring a DVD-ROM/CD-RW "Combo" drive is now priced $100 lower at $1,699. The new iBooks now include both the new Mac® OS X version 10.1 and Mac OS 9.2.1 pre-installed.

Powered by a fast 500 MHz or 600 MHz PowerPC G3 processor, all iBook models now offer 128MB of SDRAM. For additional performance, the 600 MHz iBook includes a 100 MHz system bus. Featuring either a 15GB or 20GB hard drive, iBook customers can choose from a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM or DVD-ROM/CD-RW "Combo" drive for both burning CDs and watching movies on DVDs.

The iBook line offers an impressive set of features in every model, including: